Impact driven continuous deployment system

ABSTRACT

A deployment orchestrator system is disclosed that determines an impact of deploying a new version of a component of an application deployed in a computing environment. The impact of deploying the new version of the component may be determined by generating a deployment factor for deploying the new version of a component based on analyzing information that identifies both a technical and a non-technical impact of an update made to the component. In certain embodiments, the deployment orchestrator system includes capabilities for generating different deployment plans for deploying the new version of the component. Each deployment plan is tailored based on a specific deployment factor determined for the deployment. The new version of the component is then deployed based at least in part on the deployment plan to different production regions of a production environment of the deployment orchestrator system.

BACKGROUND

Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CICD) generally refersto a software release process that uses automated testing to validate ifchanges to a codebase of a software system are correct and stable forimmediate autonomous deployment of the software system to a productionenvironment. In a CICD process, an entire software system can be testedfor functionality and robustness prior to its deployment in theproduction environment. For instance, in some approaches, a CICD processmay employ a “Testing in Production” technique to test the system priorto its deployment so that issues can be discovered before the system isdeployed to the live production environment where it can potentiallyimpact all its customers. For small systems this is an achievable goal,but in practice for large systems is it much more difficult toimplement. Resource constraints, inter-dependencies between variouscomponents within the system, and the drive for new features may resultin incomplete functional and integration testing. In these situations,pushing a new version of software into a production environment maycomprise phased deployments with traffic shaping at the terminus of thedeployment. However, accurate decisions about the safety of thedeployment need to be made prior to getting the new version of thesoftware to its deployment point.

SUMMARY

This disclosure relates generally to a deployment method for deployingan application in a computing environment. More specifically, but not byway of limitation, this disclosure describes a method for determiningthe impact of deploying a new version of a component, where thecomponent is part of an application deployed in a computing environment.In certain examples, the impact of deploying the new version of thecomponent may be determined based on analyzing information thatidentifies both a technical impact and a non-technical impact of anupdate made to a component of the application.

In certain embodiments, a method for determining the impact of deployinga new version of a component is disclosed. The method includes receivingan update to a component to be deployed as part of a deployedapplication and determining a first factor for deploying a new versionof the component comprising the update. The method additionally includesreceiving information identifying a non-technical impact of the updateand determining a second factor for deploying the new version of thecomponent comprising the update based on the information identifying thenon-technical impact of the update. The method further includesdetermining a deployment factor for deploying the new version of thecomponent comprising the update based on the first factor and the secondfactor. The method includes deploying the new version of the componentcomprising the update in a computing environment of the computer systembased on the deployment factor.

In certain examples, the method includes identifying an update typecorresponding to the update. In certain examples, the first factoridentifies a technical impact associated with deploying the new versionof the component comprising the update type. In certain examples, theupdate type comprises a visual update, a functional update, aconfiguration update or an inter-component dependency update.

In certain examples, the information identifying the non-technicalimpact of the update comprises information that identifies the update asa customer facing update or a non-customer facing update, informationthat identifies a set of customers impacted by the update or informationthat identifies a network traffic load in a region of deployment of thenew version of the component comprising the update.

In certain examples, determining the deployment factor for deploying thenew version of the component comprising the update comprises determininga first weight value to be assigned to the first factor based on anupdate type associated with the update, determining a second weightvalue to be assigned to the second factor based on the informationidentifying the non-technical impact of the update and determining aweight value to be assigned to the deployment factor based on the firstweight value and the second weight value. In certain examples, thedeployment factor represents a deployment impact of deploying the newversion of the component comprising the update. In certain examples, thefirst weight value assigned to the first factor is different from thesecond weight value assigned to the second factor.

In certain examples, the method includes generating a deployment planfor deploying the new version of the component comprising the updatebased on the deployment factor. In certain examples, the deployment planidentifies a deployment order for deploying the new version of thecomponent comprising the update to a plurality of regions.

In certain examples, the method further includes determining a firstweight value to be assigned to the deployment factor based on the firstfactor and the second factor, generating a first deployment plan fordeploying the new version of the component comprising the update basedon the first weight value and deploying the new version of the componentcomprising the update in the computing environment based on the firstdeployment plan.

In certain examples, the method includes determining a second weightvalue to be assigned to the deployment factor based on the first factorand the second factor, generating a second deployment plan for deployingthe new version of the component comprising the update based on thesecond weight value and deploying the new version of the componentcomprising the update in the computing environment based on the seconddeployment plan. In certain examples, the second deployment plan isdifferent from the first deployment plan.

Various embodiments are described herein, including methods, systems,non-transitory computer-readable storage media storing programs, code,or instructions executable by one or more processors, and the like.These illustrative embodiments are mentioned not to limit or define thedisclosure, but to provide examples to aid understanding thereof.Additional embodiments are discussed in the Detailed Description, andfurther description is provided there.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Features, embodiments, and advantages of the present disclosure arebetter understood when the following Detailed Description is read withreference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 depicts an example computing environment that includes adeployment orchestrator system that includes capabilities fordetermining a deployment impact of deploying a new version of acomponent of an application/service deployed in a computing environmentof the system, according to certain embodiments.

FIG. 2 shows a computing environment depicting additional details of theoperations performed by the subsystems of the deployment orchestratorsystem shown in FIG. 1 for deploying a new version of a component of anapplication/service deployed in a computing environment of thedeployment orchestrator system, according to certain embodiments.

FIG. 3 is an exemplary illustration of the assignment of differentweight values for different deployment factors associated with deployinga new version of a component of a service/application deployed in acomputing environment, according to certain embodiments.

FIG. 4 is an example of a process for determining a deployment factorfor deploying a new version of a component of an application/servicedeployed in a computing environment, according to certain embodiments.

FIG. 5 is an example of a process for generating a deployment plan fordeploying a new version of a component of an application/servicedeployed in a computing environment, according to certain embodiments.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating one pattern for implementing acloud infrastructure as a service system, according to at least oneembodiment.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating another pattern for implementinga cloud infrastructure as a service system, according to at least oneembodiment.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating another pattern for implementinga cloud infrastructure as a service system, according to at least oneembodiment.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating another pattern for implementinga cloud infrastructure as a service system, according to at least oneembodiment.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating an example computer system,according to at least one embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, specificdetails are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding ofcertain embodiments. However, it will be apparent that variousembodiments may be practiced without these specific details. The figuresand description are not intended to be restrictive. The word “exemplary”is used herein to mean “serving as an example, instance, orillustration.” Any embodiment or design described herein as “exemplary”is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous overother embodiments or designs.

In certain approaches, decisions about the deployment of a new versionof a component of an application/service may be executed by a team ofusers (e.g., developers, engineers) who are generally knowledgeableabout the intricacies and/or the functionality of the component and itsinteraction and dependencies with other components within theapplication. However, a deployment decision that is made solely based onthe effort and/or knowledge of information ascertained by such users maynot be sufficient to determine if a particular version of a component ofan application can be safely deployed to a production environment of theorganization without adversely impacting the customers located invarious production regions of the organization.

The deployment orchestrator system described in the present disclosureprovides several technical advancements and/or improvements overconventional deployment systems by determining the “impact” ofdeployment of a new version of a component of an application/servicebased on information that identifies both a technical impact and anon-technical impact of an update made to the component. In certainexamples, the technical impact may identify an engineering riskassociated with deploying the new version of the component comprisingthe update. For instance, the technical impact of an update may bedetermined by analyzing a type of the update (e.g., a visual update, afunctional update, a configuration update, an inter-component dependencyupdate and so on) made to the component. The non-technical impact mayinclude, for instance, information that identifies a business risk ofdeploying the new version of the component comprising the update.Information identifying the non-technical impact of an update mayinclude, for instance, information that identifies the update as acustomer facing update or a non-customer facing update, information thatidentifies a set of customers (e.g., high priority customer, free-tiercustomer) impacted by the update, information that identifies thenetwork traffic load (high load region, low load region) in a region ofdeployment of the new version of the component and so on.

The deployment orchestrator system includes capabilities for determiningthe impact of deployment of a new version of a component in a completelyautomated manner by generating a model that can automatically determinethe impact of a deployment by analyzing information associated with boththe technical and non-technical impacts of an update to the component.The deployment orchestrator system enables the automatic generation of adeployment factor for deploying a new version of a component based ondifferent pieces of information (e.g., information that identifies bothtechnical and non-technical impacts of an update) rather than just basedupon prior knowledge of the functionality of the component.

The deployment orchestrator system is dynamic and flexible in nature andincludes capabilities for generating different deployment plans fordeploying a new version of a component of an application. Eachdeployment plan is tailored based on a specific deployment factordetermined for the deployment and is generated based on analyzing boththe technical and the non-technical impacts of a particular update madeto the component. The new version of the component is then deployedbased at least in part on the deployment plan to different productionregions of a production environment of the deployment orchestratorsystem.

Referring now to the drawings, FIG. 1 depicts an example computingenvironment 100 that includes a deployment orchestrator system 104 thatincludes capabilities for determining a deployment impact of deploying anew version of a component of an application/service deployed in acomputing environment of the system, according to certain embodiments.The deployment orchestrator system 104 may be implemented by one or morecomputing systems that execute computer-readable instructions (e.g.,code, program) to implement the system. As depicted in FIG. 1, thedeployment orchestrator system 104 includes various subsystems includinga deployment analysis subsystem 108 and a deployment planning subsystem114. Portions of data or information used by or generated by thedeployment orchestrator system 104 as part of its processing may bestored in a persistent memory such as a deployment information datastore 112. The systems and subsystems depicted in FIG. 1 may beimplemented using software (e.g., code, instructions, program) executedby one or more processing units (e.g., processors, cores) of a computingsystem, hardware, or combinations thereof. The software may be stored ona non-transitory storage medium (e.g., on a memory device).

The deployment orchestrator system 104 depicted in FIG. 1 is merely anexample and is not intended to unduly limit the scope of claimedembodiments. One of ordinary skill in the art would recognize manypossible variations, alternatives, and modifications. For example, insome implementations, the deployment orchestrator system 104 can beimplemented using more or fewer subsystems than those shown in FIG. 1,may combine two or more subsystems, or may have a differentconfiguration or arrangement of subsystems.

The deployment orchestrator system 104 may be implemented in variousdifferent configurations. In certain embodiments, the deploymentorchestrator system 104 may be provided as a subsystem within anenterprise servicing users of the enterprise. In other embodiments, thedeployment orchestrator system 104 may be implemented on one or moreservers of a cloud provider and its deployment impact determinationservices may be provided to subscribers of cloud services on asubscription basis.

In certain embodiments, one or more users may interact with thedeployment orchestrator system 104 using user devices 102A-102N that maybe communicatively coupled to the deployment orchestrator system 104,possibly via one or more communication networks. The user devices102A-102N may be of various types, including but not limited to, amobile phone, a tablet, a desktop computer, and the like. The users mayrepresent users of an enterprise who subscribe to the services of thedeployment orchestrator system 104 for determining the impact ofdeploying a new version of a component of an application/servicedeployed in a computing environment of the deployment orchestratorsystem 104. The computing environment may, for instance, comprise adeployment orchestration platform (e.g., Kubernetes, OpenShift, DockerSwarm) configured to deploy and execute the service/application.

In certain examples, the users of the enterprise may interact with thedeployment orchestrator system 104 using a browser executed by the userdevices 102A-102N. For example, the users may use a user interface (UI)(which may be a graphical user interface (GUI)) of the browser executedby the user devices 102A-102N to interact with the deploymentorchestrator system 104. For instance, a user of a user device (e.g.,102A) may, via the UI, provide an update 106 to a component of anapplication/service deployed in the computing environment of thedeployment orchestrator system 104. As an example, theapplication/service may represent an order-processing application thatcomprises a collection of service components providing distinctfunctions of the application such as processing orders, invoices anduser management. The update 106 may, for instance, correspond to a UIcode change (e.g., change in the background color) of a web applicationcomponent of the order-processing service/application.

In certain embodiments, a deployment analysis subsystem 108 in thedeployment orchestrator system 104 receives the update 106. Thedeployment analysis subsystem 108 may additionally receive informationidentifying a non-technical impact 110 of the update 106. Thenon-technical impact 110 may be provided by a user (e.g., anon-technical user/business owner) of the enterprise and may includeinformation identifying a business risk of deploying a new version ofthe component comprising the update. For instance, informationidentifying the non-technical impact 110 may include, but is not limitedto, information that identifies the update as a customer facing updateor a non-customer facing update, information that identifies a set ofcustomers (e.g., high priority customer, free-tier customer) impacted bythe update or information that identifies a network traffic load (highload region, low load region) in a region of deployment of the newversion of the component and so on.

In certain embodiments, the deployment analysis subsystem 108 analyzesthe update 106 and the non-technical impact of the update 110 and basedat least in part on the analysis, determines a deployment factor fordeploying a new version of the component comprising the update 106. Insome examples, the deployment factor represents the “impact” or “risk”of deploying a new version of the component comprising the update. Incertain embodiments, a deployment planning subsystem 114 receives thedeployment factor and generates a deployment plan for deploying the newversion of the component (comprising the update) to the computingenvironment based at least in part on the deployment factor 112. Thedeployment planning subsystem 114 may be configured to store thedeployment factor, the deployment plan, information related to theupdate and the non-technical impact of the update and possibly otherinformation associated with the deployment in a deployment informationdata store 118. In certain examples, the information associated with thedeployment may be output to the user via the UI for further analysis.Additional details related to the processing performed by the varioussystems and subsystems of the system in FIG. 1 for generating deploymentfactors and deployment plans are described below in FIGS. 2-5.

FIG. 2 shows a computing environment 200 depicting additional details ofthe operations performed by the subsystems of the deploymentorchestrator system 104 shown in FIG. 1 for deploying a new version of acomponent of an application/service deployed in a computing environmentof the deployment orchestrator system, according to certain embodiments.The deployment orchestrator system 104 may be implemented by one or morecomputing systems that execute computer-readable instructions (e.g.,code, program) to implement the deployment orchestrator system 104. Asdepicted in FIG. 1, the deployment orchestrator system 104 includesvarious subsystems including a deployment analysis subsystem 108, adeployment planning subsystem 114 and a test subsystem 208. In certainembodiments, the deployment analysis subsystem 108 includes an updateclassification subsystem 202 and a deployment factor determinationsubsystem 206. The systems and subsystems depicted in FIG. 2 may beimplemented using software (e.g., code, instructions, program) executedby one or more processing units (e.g., processors, cores) of a computingsystem, hardware, or combinations thereof. The software may be stored ona non-transitory storage medium (e.g., on a memory device).

The deployment orchestrator system 104 depicted in FIG. 2 is merely anexample and is not intended to unduly limit the scope of claimedembodiments. One of ordinary skill in the art would recognize manypossible variations, alternatives, and modifications. For example, insome implementations, the deployment orchestrator system 104 can beimplemented using more or fewer subsystems than those shown in FIG. 2,may combine two or more subsystems, or may have a differentconfiguration or arrangement of subsystems.

In certain examples, the computing environment 200 comprises adeployment system 210 that may be communicatively coupled to thedeployment orchestrator system 104 via a communication network. Incertain examples, the deployment system 210 provides users of theenterprise with a computing environment for deploying and executing aset of one or more services/applications. As previously described, thecomputing environment may comprise a deployment orchestration platform(e.g., Kubernetes, OpenShift, Docker Swarm) configured to deploy andexecute the services/applications for the users of the enterprise.Portions of data or information used by or generated by the deploymentorchestrator system 104 as part of its processing may be stored in apersistent memory such as a deployment information data store 118.

In certain embodiments, a user (e.g., via the UI of a user device 102A)may provide an update 106 to a component of an application/servicedeployed in the computing environment of the deployment system 210. Byway of example, and as previously described, the update 106 maycorrespond to a UI code change (e.g., change in the background color) ofa web application component of the application/service. Other examplesof updates may include, but are not limited to, functional updatescomprising a code change (e.g., a new validation field for data entry)in a user interface element of a front-end component of theapplication/service, configuration updates such as, for example, achange to a database name or a file name in the application/service,inter-dependency updates that affect interaction of a component withother components in the application and so on.

In certain examples, an update classification subsystem 202 in thedeployment analysis subsystem 108 receives the update 106 and analyzesthe update to determine the type of the update. In a certainimplementation, the update classification subsystem 202 may utilize aset of static analysis tools to automatically analyze the update andclassify the update into an update type 204 of a set of update types.For instance, based on the analysis, the update classification subsystem202 may classify/identify an update (e.g., 106) as a “visual update” ifthe update merely results in a “visual change” to a component of theservice without impacting its operation, classify the update as a“functional update” if the update corresponds to a change in a datafield of a component that impacts the operation of the component,classify the update as a “configuration update” if the updatecorresponds to a change in the name of a data object (file, database) ofa component, classify the update as an “inter-component dependencyupdate” if the update to the component results in a change in theoperation of other components of the application/service that interactwith the component and so on.

In certain examples, the deployment factor determination subsystem 206receives the update type 204 and determines a first factor associatedwith deploying a new version of the component comprising the update tothe computing environment, based at least in part on the update type. Incertain examples, the first factor identifies a technical impactassociated with deploying the new version of the component comprisingthe update type. In certain examples, the technical impact maycorrespond to an engineering risk associated with deploying the newversion of the component comprising the update type. For instance, thetechnical impact of a small well-tested update (e.g., a “visual update”)to a component might be considered low risk, while the technical impactof an architectural/infrastructure change to the component (e.g., a“functional update”) might be considered high risk even if the updatehas been extensively tested. In a certain implementation, the deploymentfactor determination subsystem 206 may be configured to assign a firstweight value to the first factor (i.e., the engineering risk) based onthe update type 204 corresponding to the update 106. Additional detailsof the processing performed by the deployment factor determinationsubsystem 206 for assigning weight values based on update types isdescribed in detail below.

In certain embodiments, as previously described, the deployment factordetermination subsystem 206 may additionally be configured to receiveinformation identifying a non-technical impact of the update 110. Basedon analyzing the information identifying the non-technical impact of theupdate 110, the deployment factor determination subsystem 206 determinesa second factor associated with deploying the new version of thecomponent (comprising the update). In certain examples, the secondfactor identifies a business risk associated with deploying thecomponent comprising the update. Information identifying thenon-technical impact 110 may be provided by a user (e.g., anon-technical user/business owner) of the enterprise and may include,but is not limited to, information identifying if the update 106 is acustomer facing update or a non-customer facing update, informationidentifying if the update 106 affects a high priority customer or afree-tier customer, information identifying if the update 106 willresult in the new version of the component to be deployed in a lownetwork traffic load region or a high network traffic load region and soon. In a certain implementation, the deployment factor determinationsubsystem 206 may be configured to assign a second weight value to thesecond factor based on analyzing the information identifying thenon-technical impact of the update 110. Additional details of theprocessing performed by the deployment factor determination subsystem206 for assigning weight values to the second factor is described indetail below.

In certain approaches, the weight values for the first factor (e.g., theengineering risk) and the second factor (e.g., the business risk) may bedetermined by the deployment factor determination subsystem 206 using amachine learning model. For instance, the machine learning model may beconfigured to learn weight values to be assigned to the first factorbased on training data comprising update types and weight valuesassigned to the update types. By way of example, the model can employclustering techniques to cluster data (i.e., an update type of an updateand its corresponding weight value) that are more similar (in one ormore respects) to each other than to those in other groups and/orclusters and suggest a weight value to be assigned to the first factorbased on the update type. Similarly, the model may cluster data (i.e.,information identifying a non-technical impact of an update and itscorresponding weight value) that are more similar (in one or morerespects) to each other than to those in other groups and/or clustersand suggest a weight value to be assigned to the second factor based onthe information identifying the non-technical impact of the update.

In a certain implementation, the machine learning model may classify theweight values assigned to the first factor and the second factor into a“low weight value,” a “medium weight value,” or a “high weight value.”In certain examples, the weight value may represent a numeric value(between 1-10) that is assigned to the first factor and the secondfactor. For instance, a “low weight value” (e.g., between 1-3) may beassigned to a first factor (e.g., an engineering risk) that isassociated with a first update type (e.g., a visual update), a “mediumweight value” (e.g., between 4-6) may be assigned to the first factorwhen it is associated with a second update type (e.g., a functionalupdate/configuration update), and a “high weight value” (e.g., between7-10) may be assigned to the first factor when it is associated with athird update type (e.g., a system inter-dependency update). Similarly,different weight values (e.g., low, medium, high) comprising differentnumeric values may be assigned to a second factor (e.g., business risk)of the update based on analyzing the information identifying thenon-technical impact of the update. By way of example, a “medium weightvalue” may be assigned to a second factor associated with an update,such as a UI color change. This is because this update may not adverselyimpact the customer's ability to interface and interact with the serviceeven though the update results in a customer-facing update.

Based at least in part on the weight values for the first factor and thesecond factor determined using the model, in certain embodiments, thedeployment factor determination subsystem 206 may determine a deploymentfactor for deploying a new version of the component (comprising theupdate). In certain examples, the deployment factor represents the total“risk” or “impact” of deploying the new version of the componentcomprising the update and may be represented as a weight value that isderived based on the weight values assigned to the first factor and thesecond factor associated with the update. In one implementation, theweight value associated with the deployment factor may be determined bytaking the numeric average of the weight values assigned to the firstfactor and the second factor. For instance, if the first factorassociated with the update (e.g., UI color change) is assigned a “lowweight value” (which, in an example, may translate to a numeric value of2) and the second factor associated with the update is assigned a“medium weight value” (which, in this example, translates to a numericvalue of 5), the deployment factor for deploying a new version of thecomponent comprising a UI color change/update may be assigned a weightvalue 3.5 (derived by taking the average of 2 and 5) and classified intoa “medium deployment risk” category. Additional examples of weightvalues assigned to the first factor, the second factor and thedeployment factor for different updates are described in detail in FIG.3.

In certain embodiments, the machine learning model may employ bothsupervised and unsupervised machine learning techniques to classify thefirst factor, the second factor and the deployment factor into aparticular weight value of a set of weight values (low, medium, high).In other instances, other types of machine learning models may beemployed such as vector representation, labeled classifiers and/or somecombination thereof.

In certain embodiments, the deployment planning subsystem 114 receivesthe deployment factor 112 and generates a deployment plan 116 fordeploying the new version of the component (comprising the update). Thedeployment planning subsystem 114 may be configured to generatedifferent deployment plans that are tailored to specific deploymentfactors. Additional details of the processing performed by thedeployment planning subsystem 114 for generating deployment plans aredescribed below with respect to the process depicted in FIG. 5 and itsaccompanying description.

In certain embodiments, a test subsystem 208 in the deploymentorchestrator system 104 may be configured to receive the deploymentfactor 112 and test the component (comprising the update) in apre-production testbed prior to the generation of the deployment plan.Testing the component may involve, for instance, performing functionaland integration testing of the component to confirm that thefunctionality of the component is behaving as expected. The deploymentof the component may be paused at this stage if anomalies or failures inthe functioning of the component are detected, if the overall systemneeds to “batch changes” or if there are other gating factors that willprevent deployment to production (e.g., change freeze periods, businessconsiderations such as business conferences, press releases, and thelike).

In certain embodiments, the deployment planning subsystem 114 providesthe deployment plan to a deployment system. In certain examples, thedeployment planning subsystem 114 may be configured to store thedeployment factor, the deployment plan, information related to theupdate and the non-technical impact of the update, the weight valuesassigned to the first factor (engineering risk factor) and the secondfactor (business risk factor) and possibly other information associatedwith the deployment in a deployment information data store 118.

In certain embodiments, the deployment system 210 may be configured todeploy the component (comprising the update) in a computing environmentthat deploys the application. By way of example, the computingenvironment may comprise a deployment orchestration platform (e.g.,Kubernetes, OpenShift, Docker Swarm) configured to deploy and executethe service/application. In certain examples, the component may bedeployed to different production regions based on the deployment factor112 and the deployment plan 116. Additional details of how differentdeployment plans are generated based on different deployment factors aredescribed below with respect to the process depicted in FIG. 5 and itsaccompanying description.

FIG. 3 is an exemplary illustration of the assignment of differentweight values for different deployment factors associated with deployinga new version of a component of a service/application deployed in acomputing environment, according to certain embodiments. In certainembodiments, and as previously described, the weight value assigned to adeployment factor may be determined by the deployment factordetermination subsystem 206 shown in FIG. 2 based at least in part onanalyzing the weight values assigned to a first factor (e.g., anengineering risk) and a second factor (e.g., a business risk) associatedwith deploying a new version of the component comprising an update. Thefirst factor (e.g., the engineering risk) may identify a technicalimpact associated with deploying the new version of the component. Forinstance, the deployment factor determination subsystem 206 may assign a“low weight value” to a first factor associated with a “visual update”type where the update is identified as a “UI color change” update thatchanges the background color of a web application front end component ofthe application/service.

Similarly, the deployment factor determination subsystem 206 may beconfigured to assign a second weight value to a second factor (e.g., abusiness risk) based at least in part on the information identifying thenon-technical impact of the update. For instance, the deployment factordetermination subsystem 206 may assign a “medium weight value” to thesecond factor associated with the update (UI color change) since thisupdate may not adversely impact the customer's ability to interface andinteract with the application even though the update results in acustomer-facing update. Based at least in part on the weight valuesassigned to the first factor and the second factor, the deploymentfactor determination subsystem 206 then determines a deployment factorrepresenting the total “risk” or “impact” of deploying the new versionof a component comprising the update. In the example depicted in FIG. 3,the deployment factor determination subsystem 206 assigns a “mediumweight value” to the deployment factor associated with deploying a newversion of a component comprising the UI color change update based atleast in part on the weight values assigned to the first factor and thesecond factor.

As another example, a “low weight value” may be assigned to thedeployment factor associated with deploying a new version of a componentcomprising a configuration update (e.g., a change in the filename of adata object in the component) based at least in part on the weightvalues assigned to the first factor and the second factor. Similarly, a“high weight value” may be assigned to the deployment factor associatedwith deploying a new version of a component comprising a functionalupdate (e.g., a data field entry change) since this update may adverselyaffect a group of customers located in a particular region that does notrecognize the new type of data entry. In another example, a “high weightvalue” may be assigned to the deployment factor associated withdeploying a new version of a component comprising an inter-componentdependency update based at least in part on the weight values assignedto the first factor and the second factor.

The examples depicted in the table of FIG. 3 are merely examples and notintended to unduly limit the scope of claimed embodiments. One ofordinary skill in the art would recognize many possible variations,alternatives, and modifications. For example, in some implementations,different weight values may be assigned to the first factor, the secondfactor and the deployment factor based on the update made to thecomponent. In the table depicted in FIG. 3, the data is organized intoone or more columns including a Service/Application information column,an update column, an update type column, a first factor (EngineeringRisk) column, information identifying the non-technical impact of theupdate column, a second factor (Business Risk) column and a deploymentfactor column. The illustrated table is merely an example and is notintended to unduly limit the scope of claimed embodiments. One ofordinary skill in the art would recognize many possible variations,alternatives, and modifications. For example, in some implementations,the table can be implemented using more or fewer columns than thoseshown in FIG. 1, may combine two or more columns of information, or mayhave different columns than shown in the illustration.

FIG. 4 is an example of a process for determining a deployment factorfor deploying a new version of a component of an application/servicedeployed in a computing environment, according to certain embodiments.The processing depicted in FIG. 4 may be implemented in software (e.g.,code, instructions, program) executed by one or more processing units(e.g., processors, cores) of the respective systems, hardware, orcombinations thereof. The software may be stored on a non-transitorystorage medium (e.g., on a memory device). The process 400 presented inFIG. 4 and described below is intended to be illustrative andnon-limiting. Although FIG. 4 depicts the various processing stepsoccurring in a particular sequence or order, this is not intended to belimiting. In certain alternative embodiments, the steps may be performedin some different order or some steps may also be performed in parallel.In certain embodiments, such as in the embodiment depicted in FIGS. 1and 2, the processing depicted in FIG. 4 may be performed by thedeployment analysis subsystem 108 and the deployment planning system 114within the deployment orchestrator system 104.

In the embodiment depicted in FIG. 4, processing is initiated at block402 when the deployment analysis subsystem 108 receives an update to acomponent to be deployed as part of a deployed application in acomputing environment of the deployment orchestrator system 104. Aspreviously described, an update may include, but is not limited to, avisual update comprising a UI code change (e.g., change in thebackground color) of a web application component of theapplication/service, a functional update comprising a code change (e.g.,a new validation field for data entry) in a user interface element of afront-end component of the application/service, a configuration updatesuch as, for example, a change to a database name or a file name in theapplication/service, an inter-dependency update that affects interactionof a component with other components in the application and so on.

At block 404, the deployment analysis subsystem 108 determines a firstfactor for deploying a new version of the component comprising theupdate. In certain examples, the first factor is determined based atleast in part on an update type associated with the update. The firstfactor may identify a technical impact associated with deploying the newversion of the component comprising the update type. As previouslydescribed, the technical impact may correspond to an engineering riskassociated with deploying the new version of the component comprisingthe update type. In a certain implementation, the deployment factordetermination subsystem 206 may be configured to assign a first weightvalue to the first factor (i.e., the engineering risk) based on theupdate type corresponding to the update.

At block 406, the deployment analysis subsystem 108 receives informationidentifying a non-technical impact of the update. This information mayinclude, for instance, information identifying if the update affects ahigh priority customer or a free-tier customer, information identifyingif the update will result in the new version of the component to bedeployed in a low network traffic load region or a high network trafficload region and so on.

At block 408, the deployment analysis subsystem 108 determines a secondfactor for deploying the new version of the component comprising theupdate based on the information received in block 406. In certainexamples, the second factor identifies a business risk associated withdeploying the component comprising the update. In a certainimplementation, and as previously described, the deployment factordetermination subsystem may be configured to assign a second weightvalue to the second factor based on analyzing the informationidentifying the non-technical impact of the update.

At block 410, the deployment analysis subsystem 108 determines adeployment factor for deploying the new version of the component basedat least in part on the first factor and the second factor). Aspreviously described, the deployment factor represents the total “risk”or “impact” of deploying the new version of the component comprising theupdate and may be represented as a weight value that is derived based onthe weight values assigned to the first factor and the second factorassociated with the update. In one implementation, the weight valueassociated with the deployment factor may be determined by taking thenumeric average of the weight values assigned to the first factor andthe second factor.

At block 412, the deployment analysis subsystem 108 provides thedeployment factor to the deployment planning system 114 which thendeploys the new version of the component comprising the update in acomputing environment. In a certain implementation, deploying the newversion of the component involves, generating, by the deploymentplanning system 114, a deployment plan based at least in part on thedeployment factor. Additional details of the operations performed by thedeployment planning system 114 for generating a deployment plan fordeploying the new version of the component to production are describedbelow with respect to the process depicted in FIG. 5 and itsaccompanying description.

FIG. 5 is an example of a process for generating a deployment plan fordeploying a new version of a component of an application/servicedeployed in a computing environment, according to certain embodiments.The processing depicted in FIG. 5 may be implemented in software (e.g.,code, instructions, program) executed by one or more processing units(e.g., processors, cores) of the respective systems, hardware, orcombinations thereof. The software may be stored on a non-transitorystorage medium (e.g., on a memory device). The process 500 presented inFIG. 5 and described below is intended to be illustrative andnon-limiting. Although FIG. 5 depicts the various processing stepsoccurring in a particular sequence or order, this is not intended to belimiting. In certain alternative embodiments, the steps may be performedin some different order or some steps may also be performed in parallel.In certain embodiments, such as in the embodiment depicted in FIG. 2,the processing depicted in FIG. 4 may be performed by the deploymentplanning subsystem 114 within the deployment orchestrator system 104.

At block 502, the deployment planning subsystem 114 obtains/receives adeployment factor for deploying a new version of the component. Aspreviously described, the deployment factor may be generated thedeployment factor determination subsystem 206 (within the deploymentanalysis subsystem 108) based at least in part on the weight valuesdetermined for a first factor (e.g., engineering risk) and a secondfactor (business risk). In certain examples, the deployment planningsubsystem 114 is then configured to generate different deployment plansfor deploying the new version of the component based at least in part onthe weight value assigned to the deployment factor. Each deployment planspecifies/identifies a deployment order (or deployment phases) fordeploying the new version of the component comprising the update in aplurality of regions in the production environment.

For instance, at block 504, when the deployment planning subsystem 114determines that the weight assigned to the deployment factor is a “highweight value,” the set of operations in blocks 508-518 are executed togenerate a first deployment plan 506. As an example, the generation of afirst deployment plan may involve, at block 508, deploying the newversion of the component to a first subset of customers (e.g., free-tiercustomers) located in a low impact production region (e.g., a lownetwork traffic load region) of the production environment. At block510, the deployment planning subsystem 114 performs a first check todetermine if there are any issues in the deployment of the new versionof the component to the first subset of customers. If issues aredetected at this stage, at block 518, the deployment of the new versionis paused at block 518. In certain examples, at block 518, thedeployment planning subsystem 114 may transmit a command to initiate arollback of the deployment or may wait for a user (e.g., a developer ofthe enterprise) to manually detect and resolve the issues in thedeployment.

If no issues are detected in the deployment of the new version of thecomponent to the first subset of customers in block 508, at block 512,the deployment planning subsystem 114 deploys the new version of thecomponent to a second subset of customers (e.g., high prioritycustomers) located in a medium impact production region (e.g., a mediumnetwork traffic load region) of the production environment.

At block 514, the deployment planning subsystem 114 performs a secondcheck to determine if there were any issues in the deployment of the newversion of the component to the second subset of customers. If issuesare detected at this stage, at block 518, the deployment of the newversion is paused at block 518.

If no issues are detected in the deployment of the new version of thecomponent to the second subset of customers in block 512, at block 516,the deployment planning subsystem 114 deploys the new version of thecomponent to a third/remaining subset of customers (e.g., high prioritycustomers) located in a high impact production region (e.g., a highnetwork traffic load region) of the production environment.

In certain embodiments, at block 504, the deployment planning subsystem114 may determine that the weight assigned to the deployment factor is a“medium weight value.” In this case, the operations in blocks 524-530are executed to generate a second deployment plan 522. The set ofoperations performed to generate a second deployment plan may bedifferent from the set of operations performed to generate the firstdeployment plan. In a certain implementation, the set of operationsinvolved in generating the second deployment plan 522 may involve,deploying the new version to a first subset of customers (e.g.,free-tier customers) located in a low impact production region (e.g., alow network traffic load region) of the production environment at block524. If no issues are detected in the deployment of the new version ofthe component to the first subset of customers, at block 528, thedeployment planning subsystem 114 deploys the new version of thecomponent to all the remaining customers (e.g., high priority customers)located in medium and/or high impacts production regions of theproduction environment. If issues are detected at this stage, at block530, the deployment of the new version is paused.

In certain embodiments, at block 504, the deployment planning subsystem114 may determine that the weight assigned to the deployment factor is a“low weight value.” In this case, the deployment planning subsystem 114performs a set of operations to generate a third deployment plan 532.The set of operations performed to generate a third deployment plan maybe different from set of operations performed to generate the firstdeployment plan and/or the second deployment plan. In a certainimplementation, the set of operations involved in generating the thirddeployment plan may involve, deploying the new version to all customers(e.g., free-tier customers and/or high-priority customer) located inlow/medium/high impact production regions of the production environmentat the same time, at block 534.

The present disclosure offers several advantages including the abilityto determine the impact of deploying a new version of a component in acompletely automated manner by generating a model that can automaticallydetermine the impact of a deployment by analyzing information associatedwith both technical as well as non-technical impacts of an update to thecomponent. The deployment orchestrator system described in thedisclosure enables the automatic generation of a deployment factor fordeploying a new version of a component based on different pieces ofinformation (e.g., information that identifies both technical andnon-technical impacts of an update) rather than just based upon priorknowledge regarding the functionality of the component.

The deployment orchestrator system described in this disclosure isdynamic and flexible in nature and includes capabilities for generatingdifferent deployment plans for deploying a new version of a component ofan application. Each deployment plan is tailored based on a specificdeployment factor determined for the deployment and is generated basedon analyzing both the technical and the non-technical impacts of aparticular update made to the component. The new version of thecomponent is then deployed based at least in part on the deployment planto different production regions of a production environment of thedeployment orchestrator system.

Example Architectures

As noted above, infrastructure as a service (IaaS) is one particulartype of cloud computing. IaaS can be configured to provide virtualizedcomputing resources over a public network (e.g., the Internet). In anIaaS model, a cloud computing provider can host the infrastructurecomponents (e.g., servers, storage devices, network nodes (e.g.,hardware), deployment software, platform virtualization (e.g., ahypervisor layer), or the like). In some cases, an IaaS provider mayalso supply a variety of services to accompany those infrastructurecomponents (e.g., billing, monitoring, logging, security, load balancingand clustering, etc.). Thus, as these services may be policy-driven,IaaS users may be able to implement policies to drive load balancing tomaintain application availability and performance.

In some instances, IaaS customers may access resources and servicesthrough a wide area network (WAN), such as the Internet, and can use thecloud provider's services to install the remaining elements of anapplication stack. For example, the user can log in to the IaaS platformto create virtual machines (VMs), install operating systems (OSs) oneach VM, deploy middleware such as databases, create storage buckets forworkloads and backups, and even install enterprise software into thatVM. Customers can then use the provider's services to perform variousfunctions, including balancing network traffic, troubleshootingapplication issues, monitoring performance, managing disaster recovery,etc.

In most cases, a cloud computing model will require the participation ofa cloud provider. The cloud provider may, but need not be, a third-partyservice that specializes in providing (e.g., offering, renting, selling)IaaS. An entity might also opt to deploy a private cloud, becoming itsown provider of infrastructure services.

In some examples, IaaS deployment is the process of putting a newapplication, or a new version of an application, onto a preparedapplication server or the like. It may also include the process ofpreparing the server (e.g., installing libraries, daemons, etc.). Thisis often managed by the cloud provider, below the hypervisor layer(e.g., the servers, storage, network hardware, and virtualization).Thus, the customer may be responsible for handling (OS), middleware,and/or application deployment (e.g., on self-service virtual machines(e.g., that can be spun up on demand) or the like.

In some examples, IaaS provisioning may refer to acquiring computers orvirtual hosts for use, and even installing needed libraries or serviceson them. In most cases, deployment does not include provisioning, andthe provisioning may need to be performed first.

In some cases, there are two different problems for IaaS provisioning.First, there is the initial challenge of provisioning the initial set ofinfrastructure before anything is running. Second, there is thechallenge of evolving the existing infrastructure (e.g., adding newservices, changing services, removing services, etc.) once everythinghas been provisioned. In some cases, these two challenges may beaddressed by enabling the configuration of the infrastructure to bedefined declaratively. In other words, the infrastructure (e.g., whatcomponents are needed and how they interact) can be defined by one ormore configuration files. Thus, the overall topology of theinfrastructure (e.g., what resources depend on which, and how they eachwork together) can be described declaratively. In some instances, oncethe topology is defined, a workflow can be generated that creates and/ormanages the different components described in the configuration files.

In some examples, an infrastructure may have many interconnectedelements. For example, there may be one or more virtual private clouds(VPCs) (e.g., a potentially on-demand pool of configurable and/or sharedcomputing resources), also known as a core network. In some examples,there may also be one or more security group rules provisioned to definehow the security of the network will be set up and one or more virtualmachines (VMs). Other infrastructure elements may also be provisioned,such as a load balancer, a database, or the like. As more and moreinfrastructure elements are desired and/or added, the infrastructure mayincrementally evolve.

In some instances, continuous deployment techniques may be employed toenable deployment of infrastructure code across various virtualcomputing environments. Additionally, the described techniques canenable infrastructure management within these environments. In someexamples, service teams can write code that is desired to be deployed toone or more, but often many, different production environments (e.g.,across various different geographic locations, sometimes spanning theentire world). However, in some examples, the infrastructure on whichthe code will be deployed must first be set up. In some instances, theprovisioning can be done manually, a provisioning tool may be utilizedto provision the resources, and/or deployment tools may be utilized todeploy the code once the infrastructure is provisioned.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram 600 illustrating an example pattern of an IaaSarchitecture, according to at least one embodiment. Service operators602 can be communicatively coupled to a secure host tenancy 604 that caninclude a virtual cloud network (VCN) 606 and a secure host subnet 608.In some examples, the service operators 602 may be using one or moreclient computing devices, which may be portable handheld devices (e.g.,an iPhone®, cellular telephone, an iPad®, computing tablet, a personaldigital assistant (PDA)) or wearable devices (e.g., a Google Glass® headmounted display), running software such as Microsoft Windows Mobile®,and/or a variety of mobile operating systems such as iOS, Windows Phone,Android, BlackBerry 8, Palm OS, and the like, and being Internet,e-mail, short message service (SMS), Blackberry®, or other communicationprotocol enabled. Alternatively, the client computing devices can begeneral purpose personal computers including, by way of example,personal computers and/or laptop computers running various versions ofMicrosoft Windows®, Apple Macintosh®, and/or Linux operating systems.The client computing devices can be workstation computers running any ofa variety of commercially-available UNIX® or UNIX-like operatingsystems, including without limitation the variety of GNU/Linux operatingsystems, such as for example, Google Chrome OS. Alternatively, or inaddition, client computing devices may be any other electronic device,such as a thin-client computer, an Internet-enabled gaming system (e.g.,a Microsoft Xbox gaming console with or without a Kinect® gesture inputdevice), and/or a personal messaging device, capable of communicatingover a network that can access the VCN 606 and/or the Internet.

The VCN 606 can include a local peering gateway (LPG) 610 that can becommunicatively coupled to a secure shell (SSH) VCN 612 via an LPG 610contained in the SSH VCN 612. The SSH VCN 612 can include an SSH subnet614, and the SSH VCN 612 can be communicatively coupled to a controlplane VCN 616 via the LPG 610 contained in the control plane VCN 616.Also, the SSH VCN 612 can be communicatively coupled to a data plane VCN618 via an LPG 610. The control plane VCN 616 and the data plane VCN 618can be contained in a service tenancy 619 that can be owned and/oroperated by the IaaS provider.

The control plane VCN 616 can include a control plane demilitarized zone(DMZ) tier 620 that acts as a perimeter network (e.g., portions of acorporate network between the corporate intranet and external networks).The DMZ-based servers may have restricted responsibilities and help keepsecurity breaches contained. Additionally, the DMZ tier 620 can includeone or more load balancer (LB) subnet(s) 622, a control plane app tier624 that can include app subnet(s) 626, a control plane data tier 628that can include database (DB) subnet(s) 630 (e.g., frontend DBsubnet(s) and/or backend DB subnet(s)). The LB subnet(s) 622 containedin the control plane DMZ tier 620 can be communicatively coupled to theapp subnet(s) 626 contained in the control plane app tier 624 and anInternet gateway 634 that can be contained in the control plane VCN 616,and the app subnet(s) 626 can be communicatively coupled to the DBsubnet(s) 630 contained in the control plane data tier 628 and a servicegateway 636 and a network address translation (NAT) gateway 638. Thecontrol plane VCN 616 can include the service gateway 636 and the NATgateway 638.

The control plane VCN 616 can include a data plane mirror app tier 640that can include app subnet(s) 626. The app subnet(s) 626 contained inthe data plane mirror app tier 640 can include a virtual networkinterface controller (VNIC) 642 that can execute a compute instance 644.The compute instance 644 can communicatively couple the app subnet(s)626 of the data plane mirror app tier 640 to app subnet(s) 626 that canbe contained in a data plane app tier 646.

The data plane VCN 618 can include the data plane app tier 646, a dataplane DMZ tier 648, and a data plane data tier 650. The data plane DMZtier 648 can include LB subnet(s) 622 that can be communicativelycoupled to the app subnet(s) 626 of the data plane app tier 646 and theInternet gateway 634 of the data plane VCN 618. The app subnet(s) 626can be communicatively coupled to the service gateway 636 of the dataplane VCN 618 and the NAT gateway 638 of the data plane VCN 618. Thedata plane data tier 650 can also include the DB subnet(s) 630 that canbe communicatively coupled to the app subnet(s) 626 of the data planeapp tier 646.

The Internet gateway 634 of the control plane VCN 616 and of the dataplane VCN 618 can be communicatively coupled to a metadata managementservice 652 that can be communicatively coupled to public Internet 654.Public Internet 654 can be communicatively coupled to the NAT gateway638 of the control plane VCN 616 and of the data plane VCN 618. Theservice gateway 636 of the control plane VCN 616 and of the data planeVCN 618 can be communicatively couple to cloud services 656.

In some examples, the service gateway 636 of the control plane VCN 616or of the data plane VCN 618 can make application programming interface(API) calls to cloud services 656 without going through public Internet654. The API calls to cloud services 656 from the service gateway 636can be one-way: the service gateway 636 can make API calls to cloudservices 656, and cloud services 656 can send requested data to theservice gateway 636. But, cloud services 656 may not initiate API callsto the service gateway 636.

In some examples, the secure host tenancy 604 can be directly connectedto the service tenancy 619, which may be otherwise isolated. The securehost subnet 608 can communicate with the SSH subnet 614 through an LPG610 that may enable two-way communication over an otherwise isolatedsystem. Connecting the secure host subnet 608 to the SSH subnet 614 maygive the secure host subnet 608 access to other entities within theservice tenancy 619.

The control plane VCN 616 may allow users of the service tenancy 619 toset up or otherwise provision desired resources. Desired resourcesprovisioned in the control plane VCN 616 may be deployed or otherwiseused in the data plane VCN 618. In some examples, the control plane VCN616 can be isolated from the data plane VCN 618, and the data planemirror app tier 640 of the control plane VCN 616 can communicate withthe data plane app tier 646 of the data plane VCN 618 via VNICs 642 thatcan be contained in the data plane mirror app tier 640 and the dataplane app tier 646.

In some examples, users of the system, or customers, can make requests,for example create, read, update, or delete (CRUD) operations, throughpublic Internet 654 that can communicate the requests to the metadatamanagement service 652. The metadata management service 652 cancommunicate the request to the control plane VCN 616 through theInternet gateway 634. The request can be received by the LB subnet(s)622 contained in the control plane DMZ tier 620. The LB subnet(s) 622may determine that the request is valid, and in response to thisdetermination, the LB subnet(s) 622 can transmit the request to appsubnet(s) 626 contained in the control plane app tier 624. If therequest is validated and requires a call to public Internet 654, thecall to public Internet 654 may be transmitted to the NAT gateway 638that can make the call to public Internet 654. Memory that may bedesired to be stored by the request can be stored in the DB subnet(s)630.

In some examples, the data plane mirror app tier 640 can facilitatedirect communication between the control plane VCN 616 and the dataplane VCN 618. For example, changes, updates, or other suitablemodifications to configuration may be desired to be applied to theresources contained in the data plane VCN 618. Via a VNIC 642, thecontrol plane VCN 616 can directly communicate with, and can therebyexecute the changes, updates, or other suitable modifications toconfiguration to, resources contained in the data plane VCN 618.

In some embodiments, the control plane VCN 616 and the data plane VCN618 can be contained in the service tenancy 619. In this case, the user,or the customer, of the system may not own or operate either the controlplane VCN 616 or the data plane VCN 618. Instead, the IaaS provider mayown or operate the control plane VCN 616 and the data plane VCN 618,both of which may be contained in the service tenancy 619. Thisembodiment can enable isolation of networks that may prevent users orcustomers from interacting with other users', or other customers',resources. Also, this embodiment may allow users or customers of thesystem to store databases privately without needing to rely on publicInternet 654, which may not have a desired level of security, forstorage.

In other embodiments, the LB subnet(s) 622 contained in the controlplane VCN 616 can be configured to receive a signal from the servicegateway 636. In this embodiment, the control plane VCN 616 and the dataplane VCN 618 may be configured to be called by a customer of the IaaSprovider without calling public Internet 654. Customers of the IaaSprovider may desire this embodiment since database(s) that the customersuse may be controlled by the IaaS provider and may be stored on theservice tenancy 619, which may be isolated from public Internet 654.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram 700 illustrating another example pattern of anIaaS architecture, according to at least one embodiment. Serviceoperators 702 (e.g. service operators 602 of FIG. 6) can becommunicatively coupled to a secure host tenancy 704 (e.g. the securehost tenancy 604 of FIG. 6) that can include a virtual cloud network(VCN) 706 (e.g. the VCN 606 of FIG. 6) and a secure host subnet 708(e.g. the secure host subnet 608 of FIG. 6). The VCN 706 can include alocal peering gateway (LPG) 710 (e.g. the LPG 610 of FIG. 6) that can becommunicatively coupled to a secure shell (SSH) VCN 712 (e.g. the SSHVCN 612 of FIG. 6) via an LPG 610 contained in the SSH VCN 712. The SSHVCN 712 can include an SSH subnet 714 (e.g. the SSH subnet 614 of FIG.6), and the SSH VCN 712 can be communicatively coupled to a controlplane VCN 716 (e.g. the control plane VCN 616 of FIG. 6) via an LPG 710contained in the control plane VCN 716. The control plane VCN 716 can becontained in a service tenancy 719 (e.g. the service tenancy 619 of FIG.6), and the data plane VCN 718 (e.g. the data plane VCN 618 of FIG. 6)can be contained in a customer tenancy 721 that may be owned or operatedby users, or customers, of the system.

The control plane VCN 716 can include a control plane DMZ tier 720 (e.g.the control plane DMZ tier 620 of FIG. 6) that can include LB subnet(s)722 (e.g. LB subnet(s) 622 of FIG. 6), a control plane app tier 724(e.g. the control plane app tier 624 of FIG. 6) that can include appsubnet(s) 726 (e.g. app subnet(s) 626 of FIG. 6), a control plane datatier 728 (e.g. the control plane data tier 628 of FIG. 6) that caninclude database (DB) subnet(s) 730 (e.g. similar to DB subnet(s) 630 ofFIG. 6). The LB subnet(s) 722 contained in the control plane DMZ tier720 can be communicatively coupled to the app subnet(s) 726 contained inthe control plane app tier 724 and an Internet gateway 734 (e.g. theInternet gateway 634 of FIG. 6) that can be contained in the controlplane VCN 716, and the app subnet(s) 726 can be communicatively coupledto the DB subnet(s) 730 contained in the control plane data tier 728 anda service gateway 736 (e.g. the service gateway of FIG. 6) and a networkaddress translation (NAT) gateway 738 (e.g. the NAT gateway 638 of FIG.6). The control plane VCN 716 can include the service gateway 736 andthe NAT gateway 738.

The control plane VCN 716 can include a data plane mirror app tier 740(e.g. the data plane mirror app tier 640 of FIG. 6) that can include appsubnet(s) 726. The app subnet(s) 726 contained in the data plane mirrorapp tier 740 can include a virtual network interface controller (VNIC)742 (e.g. the VNIC of 642) that can execute a compute instance 744 (e.g.similar to the compute instance 644 of FIG. 6). The compute instance 744can facilitate communication between the app subnet(s) 726 of the dataplane mirror app tier 740 and the app subnet(s) 726 that can becontained in a data plane app tier 746 (e.g. the data plane app tier 646of FIG. 6) via the VNIC 742 contained in the data plane mirror app tier740 and the VNIC 742 contained in the data plane app tier 746.

The Internet gateway 734 contained in the control plane VCN 716 can becommunicatively coupled to a metadata management service 752 (e.g. themetadata management service 652 of FIG. 6) that can be communicativelycoupled to public Internet 754 (e.g. public Internet 654 of FIG. 6).Public Internet 754 can be communicatively coupled to the NAT gateway738 contained in the control plane VCN 716. The service gateway 736contained in the control plane VCN 716 can be communicatively couple tocloud services 756 (e.g. cloud services 656 of FIG. 6).

In some examples, the data plane VCN 718 can be contained in thecustomer tenancy 721. In this case, the IaaS provider may provide thecontrol plane VCN 716 for each customer, and the IaaS provider may, foreach customer, set up a unique compute instance 744 that is contained inthe service tenancy 719. Each compute instance 744 may allowcommunication between the control plane VCN 716, contained in theservice tenancy 719, and the data plane VCN 718 that is contained in thecustomer tenancy 721. The compute instance 744 may allow resources, thatare provisioned in the control plane VCN 716 that is contained in theservice tenancy 719, to be deployed or otherwise used in the data planeVCN 718 that is contained in the customer tenancy 721.

In other examples, the customer of the IaaS provider may have databasesthat live in the customer tenancy 721. In this example, the controlplane VCN 716 can include the data plane mirror app tier 740 that caninclude app subnet(s) 726. The data plane mirror app tier 740 can residein the data plane VCN 718, but the data plane mirror app tier 740 maynot live in the data plane VCN 718. That is, the data plane mirror apptier 740 may have access to the customer tenancy 721, but the data planemirror app tier 740 may not exist in the data plane VCN 718 or be ownedor operated by the customer of the IaaS provider. The data plane mirrorapp tier 740 may be configured to make calls to the data plane VCN 718but may not be configured to make calls to any entity contained in thecontrol plane VCN 716. The customer may desire to deploy or otherwiseuse resources in the data plane VCN 718 that are provisioned in thecontrol plane VCN 716, and the data plane mirror app tier 740 canfacilitate the desired deployment, or other usage of resources, of thecustomer.

In some embodiments, the customer of the IaaS provider can apply filtersto the data plane VCN 718. In this embodiment, the customer candetermine what the data plane VCN 718 can access, and the customer mayrestrict access to public Internet 754 from the data plane VCN 718. TheIaaS provider may not be able to apply filters or otherwise controlaccess of the data plane VCN 718 to any outside networks or databases.Applying filters and controls by the customer onto the data plane VCN718, contained in the customer tenancy 721, can help isolate the dataplane VCN 718 from other customers and from public Internet 754.

In some embodiments, cloud services 756 can be called by the servicegateway 736 to access services that may not exist on public Internet754, on the control plane VCN 716, or on the data plane VCN 718. Theconnection between cloud services 756 and the control plane VCN 716 orthe data plane VCN 718 may not be live or continuous. Cloud services 756may exist on a different network owned or operated by the IaaS provider.Cloud services 756 may be configured to receive calls from the servicegateway 736 and may be configured to not receive calls from publicInternet 754. Some cloud services 756 may be isolated from other cloudservices 756, and the control plane VCN 716 may be isolated from cloudservices 756 that may not be in the same region as the control plane VCN716. For example, the control plane VCN 716 may be located in “Region1,” and cloud service “Deployment 6,” may be located in Region 1 and in“Region 2.” If a call to Deployment 6 is made by the service gateway 736contained in the control plane VCN 716 located in Region 1, the call maybe transmitted to Deployment 6 in Region 1. In this example, the controlplane VCN 716, or Deployment 6 in Region 1, may not be communicativelycoupled to, or otherwise in communication with, Deployment 6 in Region2.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram 800 illustrating another example pattern of anIaaS architecture, according to at least one embodiment. Serviceoperators 802 (e.g. service operators 602 of FIG. 6) can becommunicatively coupled to a secure host tenancy 804 (e.g. the securehost tenancy 604 of FIG. 6) that can include a virtual cloud network(VCN) 806 (e.g. the VCN 606 of FIG. 6) and a secure host subnet 808(e.g. the secure host subnet 608 of FIG. 6). The VCN 806 can include anLPG 810 (e.g. the LPG 610 of FIG. 6) that can be communicatively coupledto an SSH VCN 812 (e.g. the SSH VCN 612 of FIG. 6) via an LPG 810contained in the SSH VCN 812. The SSH VCN 812 can include an SSH subnet814 (e.g. the SSH subnet 614 of FIG. 6), and the SSH VCN 812 can becommunicatively coupled to a control plane VCN 816 (e.g. the controlplane VCN 616 of FIG. 6) via an LPG 810 contained in the control planeVCN 816 and to a data plane VCN 818 (e.g. the data plane 618 of FIG. 6)via an LPG 810 contained in the data plane VCN 818. The control planeVCN 816 and the data plane VCN 818 can be contained in a service tenancy819 (e.g. the service tenancy 619 of FIG. 6).

The control plane VCN 816 can include a control plane DMZ tier 820 (e.g.the control plane DMZ tier 620 of FIG. 6) that can include load balancer(LB) subnet(s) 822 (e.g. LB subnet(s) 622 of FIG. 6), a control planeapp tier 824 (e.g. the control plane app tier 624 of FIG. 6) that caninclude app subnet(s) 826 (e.g. similar to app subnet(s) 626 of FIG. 6),a control plane data tier 828 (e.g. the control plane data tier 628 ofFIG. 6) that can include DB subnet(s) 830. The LB subnet(s) 822contained in the control plane DMZ tier 820 can be communicativelycoupled to the app subnet(s) 826 contained in the control plane app tier824 and to an Internet gateway 834 (e.g. the Internet gateway 634 ofFIG. 6) that can be contained in the control plane VCN 816, and the appsubnet(s) 826 can be communicatively coupled to the DB subnet(s) 830contained in the control plane data tier 828 and to a service gateway836 (e.g. the service gateway of FIG. 6) and a network addresstranslation (NAT) gateway 838 (e.g. the NAT gateway 638 of FIG. 6). Thecontrol plane VCN 816 can include the service gateway 836 and the NATgateway 838.

The data plane VCN 818 can include a data plane app tier 846 (e.g. thedata plane app tier 646 of FIG. 6), a data plane DMZ tier 848 (e.g. thedata plane DMZ tier 648 of FIG. 6), and a data plane data tier 850 (e.g.the data plane data tier 650 of FIG. 6). The data plane DMZ tier 848 caninclude LB subnet(s) 822 that can be communicatively coupled to trustedapp subnet(s) 860 and untrusted app subnet(s) 862 of the data plane apptier 846 and the Internet gateway 834 contained in the data plane VCN818. The trusted app subnet(s) 860 can be communicatively coupled to theservice gateway 836 contained in the data plane VCN 818, the NAT gateway838 contained in the data plane VCN 818, and DB subnet(s) 830 containedin the data plane data tier 850. The untrusted app subnet(s) 862 can becommunicatively coupled to the service gateway 836 contained in the dataplane VCN 818 and DB subnet(s) 830 contained in the data plane data tier850. The data plane data tier 850 can include DB subnet(s) 830 that canbe communicatively coupled to the service gateway 836 contained in thedata plane VCN 818.

The untrusted app subnet(s) 862 can include one or more primary VNICs864(1)-(N) that can be communicatively coupled to tenant virtualmachines (VMs) 866(1)-(N). Each tenant VM 866(1)-(N) can becommunicatively coupled to a respective app subnet 867(1)-(N) that canbe contained in respective container egress VCNs 868(1)-(N) that can becontained in respective customer tenancies 870(1)-(N). Respectivesecondary VNICs 872(1)-(N) can facilitate communication between theuntrusted app subnet(s) 862 contained in the data plane VCN 818 and theapp subnet contained in the container egress VCNs 868(1)-(N). Eachcontainer egress VCNs 868(1)-(N) can include a NAT gateway 838 that canbe communicatively coupled to public Internet 854 (e.g. public Internet654 of FIG. 6).

The Internet gateway 834 contained in the control plane VCN 816 andcontained in the data plane VCN 818 can be communicatively coupled to ametadata management service 852 (e.g. the metadata management system 652of FIG. 6) that can be communicatively coupled to public Internet 854.Public Internet 854 can be communicatively coupled to the NAT gateway838 contained in the control plane VCN 816 and contained in the dataplane VCN 818. The service gateway 836 contained in the control planeVCN 816 and contained in the data plane VCN 818 can be communicativelycouple to cloud services 856.

In some embodiments, the data plane VCN 818 can be integrated withcustomer tenancies 870. This integration can be useful or desirable forcustomers of the IaaS provider in some cases such as a case that maydesire support when executing code. The customer may provide code to runthat may be destructive, may communicate with other customer resources,or may otherwise cause undesirable effects. In response to this, theIaaS provider may determine whether to run code given to the IaaSprovider by the customer.

In some examples, the customer of the IaaS provider may grant temporarynetwork access to the IaaS provider and request a function to beattached to the data plane tier app 846. Code to run the function may beexecuted in the VMs 866(1)-(N), and the code may not be configured torun anywhere else on the data plane VCN 818. Each VM 866(1)-(N) may beconnected to one customer tenancy 870. Respective containers 871(1)-(N)contained in the VMs 866(1)-(N) may be configured to run the code. Inthis case, there can be a dual isolation (e.g., the containers871(1)-(N) running code, where the containers 871(1)-(N) may becontained in at least the VM 866(1)-(N) that are contained in theuntrusted app subnet(s) 862), which may help prevent incorrect orotherwise undesirable code from damaging the network of the IaaSprovider or from damaging a network of a different customer. Thecontainers 871(1)-(N) may be communicatively coupled to the customertenancy 870 and may be configured to transmit or receive data from thecustomer tenancy 870. The containers 871(1)-(N) may not be configured totransmit or receive data from any other entity in the data plane VCN818. Upon completion of running the code, the IaaS provider may kill orotherwise dispose of the containers 871(1)-(N).

In some embodiments, the trusted app subnet(s) 860 may run code that maybe owned or operated by the IaaS provider. In this embodiment, thetrusted app subnet(s) 860 may be communicatively coupled to the DBsubnet(s) 830 and be configured to execute CRUD operations in the DBsubnet(s) 830. The untrusted app subnet(s) 862 may be communicativelycoupled to the DB subnet(s) 830, but in this embodiment, the untrustedapp subnet(s) may be configured to execute read operations in the DBsubnet(s) 830. The containers 871(1)-(N) that can be contained in the VM866(1)-(N) of each customer and that may run code from the customer maynot be communicatively coupled with the DB subnet(s) 830.

In other embodiments, the control plane VCN 816 and the data plane VCN818 may not be directly communicatively coupled. In this embodiment,there may be no direct communication between the control plane VCN 816and the data plane VCN 818. However, communication can occur indirectlythrough at least one method. An LPG 810 may be established by the IaaSprovider that can facilitate communication between the control plane VCN816 and the data plane VCN 818. In another example, the control planeVCN 816 or the data plane VCN 818 can make a call to cloud services 856via the service gateway 836. For example, a call to cloud services 856from the control plane VCN 816 can include a request for a service thatcan communicate with the data plane VCN 818.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram 900 illustrating another example pattern of anIaaS architecture, according to at least one embodiment. Serviceoperators 902 (e.g. service operators 602 of FIG. 6) can becommunicatively coupled to a secure host tenancy 904 (e.g. the securehost tenancy 604 of FIG. 6) that can include a virtual cloud network(VCN) 906 (e.g. the VCN 606 of FIG. 6) and a secure host subnet 908(e.g. the secure host subnet 608 of FIG. 6). The VCN 906 can include anLPG 910 (e.g. the LPG 610 of FIG. 6) that can be communicatively coupledto an SSH VCN 912 (e.g. the SSH VCN 612 of FIG. 6) via an LPG 910contained in the SSH VCN 912. The SSH VCN 912 can include an SSH subnet914 (e.g. the SSH subnet 614 of FIG. 6), and the SSH VCN 912 can becommunicatively coupled to a control plane VCN 916 (e.g. the controlplane VCN 616 of FIG. 6) via an LPG 910 contained in the control planeVCN 916 and to a data plane VCN 918 (e.g. the data plane 618 of FIG. 6)via an LPG 910 contained in the data plane VCN 918. The control planeVCN 916 and the data plane VCN 918 can be contained in a service tenancy919 (e.g. the service tenancy 619 of FIG. 6).

The control plane VCN 916 can include a control plane DMZ tier 920 (e.g.the control plane DMZ tier 620 of FIG. 6) that can include LB subnet(s)922 (e.g. LB subnet(s) 622 of FIG. 6), a control plane app tier 924(e.g. the control plane app tier 624 of FIG. 6) that can include appsubnet(s) 926 (e.g. app subnet(s) 626 of FIG. 6), a control plane datatier 928 (e.g. the control plane data tier 628 of FIG. 6) that caninclude DB subnet(s) 930 (e.g. DB subnet(s) 830 of FIG. 8). The LBsubnet(s) 922 contained in the control plane DMZ tier 920 can becommunicatively coupled to the app subnet(s) 926 contained in thecontrol plane app tier 924 and to an Internet gateway 934 (e.g. theInternet gateway 634 of FIG. 6) that can be contained in the controlplane VCN 916, and the app subnet(s) 926 can be communicatively coupledto the DB subnet(s) 930 contained in the control plane data tier 928 andto a service gateway 936 (e.g. the service gateway of FIG. 6) and anetwork address translation (NAT) gateway 938 (e.g. the NAT gateway 638of FIG. 6). The control plane VCN 916 can include the service gateway936 and the NAT gateway 938.

The data plane VCN 918 can include a data plane app tier 946 (e.g. thedata plane app tier 646 of FIG. 6), a data plane DMZ tier 948 (e.g. thedata plane DMZ tier 648 of FIG. 6), and a data plane data tier 950 (e.g.the data plane data tier 650 of FIG. 6). The data plane DMZ tier 948 caninclude LB subnet(s) 922 that can be communicatively coupled to trustedapp subnet(s) 960 (e.g. trusted app subnet(s) 860 of FIG. 8) anduntrusted app subnet(s) 962 (e.g. untrusted app subnet(s) 862 of FIG. 8)of the data plane app tier 946 and the Internet gateway 934 contained inthe data plane VCN 918. The trusted app subnet(s) 960 can becommunicatively coupled to the service gateway 936 contained in the dataplane VCN 918, the NAT gateway 938 contained in the data plane VCN 918,and DB subnet(s) 930 contained in the data plane data tier 950. Theuntrusted app subnet(s) 962 can be communicatively coupled to theservice gateway 936 contained in the data plane VCN 918 and DB subnet(s)930 contained in the data plane data tier 950. The data plane data tier950 can include DB subnet(s) 930 that can be communicatively coupled tothe service gateway 936 contained in the data plane VCN 918.

The untrusted app subnet(s) 962 can include primary VNICs 964(1)-(N)that can be communicatively coupled to tenant virtual machines (VMs)966(1)-(N) residing within the untrusted app subnet(s) 962. Each tenantVM 966(1)-(N) can run code in a respective container 967(1)-(N), and becommunicatively coupled to an app subnet 926 that can be contained in adata plane app tier 946 that can be contained in a container egress VCN968. Respective secondary VNICs 972(1)-(N) can facilitate communicationbetween the untrusted app subnet(s) 962 contained in the data plane VCN918 and the app subnet contained in the container egress VCN 968. Thecontainer egress VCN can include a NAT gateway 938 that can becommunicatively coupled to public Internet 954 (e.g. public Internet 654of FIG. 6).

The Internet gateway 934 contained in the control plane VCN 916 andcontained in the data plane VCN 918 can be communicatively coupled to ametadata management service 952 (e.g. the metadata management system 652of FIG. 6) that can be communicatively coupled to public Internet 954.Public Internet 954 can be communicatively coupled to the NAT gateway938 contained in the control plane VCN 916 and contained in the dataplane VCN 918. The service gateway 936 contained in the control planeVCN 916 and contained in the data plane VCN 918 can be communicativelycouple to cloud services 956.

In some examples, the pattern illustrated by the architecture of blockdiagram 900 of FIG. 9 may be considered an exception to the patternillustrated by the architecture of block diagram 800 of FIG. 8 and maybe desirable for a customer of the IaaS provider if the IaaS providercannot directly communicate with the customer (e.g., a disconnectedregion). The respective containers 967(1)-(N) that are contained in theVMs 966(1)-(N) for each customer can be accessed in real-time by thecustomer. The containers 967(1)-(N) may be configured to make calls torespective secondary VNICs 972(1)-(N) contained in app subnet(s) 926 ofthe data plane app tier 946 that can be contained in the containeregress VCN 968. The secondary VNICs 972(1)-(N) can transmit the calls tothe NAT gateway 938 that may transmit the calls to public Internet 954.In this example, the containers 967(1)-(N) that can be accessed inreal-time by the customer can be isolated from the control plane VCN 916and can be isolated from other entities contained in the data plane VCN918. The containers 967(1)-(N) may also be isolated from resources fromother customers.

In other examples, the customer can use the containers 967(1)-(N) tocall cloud services 956. In this example, the customer may run code inthe containers 967(1)-(N) that requests a service from cloud services956. The containers 967(1)-(N) can transmit this request to thesecondary VNICs 972(1)-(N) that can transmit the request to the NATgateway that can transmit the request to public Internet 954. PublicInternet 954 can transmit the request to LB subnet(s) 922 contained inthe control plane VCN 916 via the Internet gateway 934. In response todetermining the request is valid, the LB subnet(s) can transmit therequest to app subnet(s) 926 that can transmit the request to cloudservices 956 via the service gateway 936.

It should be appreciated that IaaS architectures 600, 700, 800, 900depicted in the figures may have other components than those depicted.Further, the embodiments shown in the figures are only some examples ofa cloud infrastructure system that may incorporate an embodiment of thedisclosure. In some other embodiments, the IaaS systems may have more orfewer components than shown in the figures, may combine two or morecomponents, or may have a different configuration or arrangement ofcomponents.

In certain embodiments, the IaaS systems described herein may include asuite of applications, middleware, and database service offerings thatare delivered to a customer in a self-service, subscription-based,elastically scalable, reliable, highly available, and secure manner. Anexample of such an IaaS system is the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI)provided by the present assignee.

FIG. 10 illustrates an example computer system 1000, in which variousembodiments may be implemented. The system 1000 may be used to implementany of the computer systems described above. As shown in the figure,computer system 1000 includes a processing unit 1004 that communicateswith a number of peripheral subsystems via a bus subsystem 1002. Theseperipheral subsystems may include a processing acceleration unit 1006,an I/O subsystem 1008, a storage subsystem 1018 and a communicationssubsystem 1024. Storage subsystem 1018 includes tangiblecomputer-readable storage media 1022 and a system memory 1010.

Bus subsystem 1002 provides a mechanism for letting the variouscomponents and subsystems of computer system 1000 communicate with eachother as intended. Although bus subsystem 1002 is shown schematically asa single bus, alternative embodiments of the bus subsystem may utilizemultiple buses. Bus subsystem 1002 may be any of several types of busstructures including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheralbus, and a local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures. Forexample, such architectures may include an Industry StandardArchitecture (ISA) bus, Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) bus, EnhancedISA (EISA) bus, Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) localbus, and Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus, which can beimplemented as a Mezzanine bus manufactured to the IEEE P1386.1standard.

Processing unit 1004, which can be implemented as one or more integratedcircuits (e.g., a conventional microprocessor or microcontroller),controls the operation of computer system 1000. One or more processorsmay be included in processing unit 1004. These processors may includesingle core or multicore processors. In certain embodiments, processingunit 1004 may be implemented as one or more independent processing units1032 and/or 1034 with single or multicore processors included in eachprocessing unit. In other embodiments, processing unit 1004 may also beimplemented as a quad-core processing unit formed by integrating twodual-core processors into a single chip.

In various embodiments, processing unit 1004 can execute a variety ofprograms in response to program code and can maintain multipleconcurrently executing programs or processes. At any given time, some orall of the program code to be executed can be resident in processor(s)1004 and/or in storage subsystem 1018. Through suitable programming,processor(s) 1004 can provide various functionalities described above.Computer system 1000 may additionally include a processing accelerationunit 1006, which can include a digital signal processor (DSP), aspecial-purpose processor, and/or the like.

I/O subsystem 1008 may include user interface input devices and userinterface output devices. User interface input devices may include akeyboard, pointing devices such as a mouse or trackball, a touchpad ortouch screen incorporated into a display, a scroll wheel, a click wheel,a dial, a button, a switch, a keypad, audio input devices with voicecommand recognition systems, microphones, and other types of inputdevices. User interface input devices may include, for example, motionsensing and/or gesture recognition devices such as the Microsoft Kinect®motion sensor that enables users to control and interact with an inputdevice, such as the Microsoft Xbox® 360 game controller, through anatural user interface using gestures and spoken commands. Userinterface input devices may also include eye gesture recognition devicessuch as the Google Glass® blink detector that detects eye activity(e.g., ‘blinking’ while taking pictures and/or making a menu selection)from users and transforms the eye gestures as input into an input device(e.g., Google Glass®). Additionally, user interface input devices mayinclude voice recognition sensing devices that enable users to interactwith voice recognition systems (e.g., Siri® navigator), through voicecommands.

User interface input devices may also include, without limitation, threedimensional (3D) mice, joysticks or pointing sticks, gamepads andgraphic tablets, and audio/visual devices such as speakers, digitalcameras, digital camcorders, portable media players, webcams, imagescanners, fingerprint scanners, barcode reader 3D scanners, 3D printers,laser rangefinders, and eye gaze tracking devices. Additionally, userinterface input devices may include, for example, medical imaging inputdevices such as computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging,position emission tomography, medical ultrasonography devices. Userinterface input devices may also include, for example, audio inputdevices such as MIDI keyboards, digital musical instruments and thelike.

User interface output devices may include a display subsystem, indicatorlights, or non-visual displays such as audio output devices, etc. Thedisplay subsystem may be a cathode ray tube (CRT), a flat-panel device,such as that using a liquid crystal display (LCD) or plasma display, aprojection device, a touch screen, and the like. In general, use of theterm “output device” is intended to include all possible types ofdevices and mechanisms for outputting information from computer system1000 to a user or other computer. For example, user interface outputdevices may include, without limitation, a variety of display devicesthat visually convey text, graphics and audio/video information such asmonitors, printers, speakers, headphones, automotive navigation systems,plotters, voice output devices, and modems.

Computer system 1000 may comprise a storage subsystem 1018 thatcomprises software elements, shown as being currently located within asystem memory 1010. System memory 1010 may store program instructionsthat are loadable and executable on processing unit 1004, as well asdata generated during the execution of these programs.

Depending on the configuration and type of computer system 1000, systemmemory 1010 may be volatile (such as random access memory (RAM)) and/ornon-volatile (such as read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, etc.) TheRAM typically contains data and/or program modules that are immediatelyaccessible to and/or presently being operated and executed by processingunit 1004. In some implementations, system memory 1010 may includemultiple different types of memory, such as static random access memory(SRAM) or dynamic random access memory (DRAM). In some implementations,a basic input/output system (BIOS), containing the basic routines thathelp to transfer information between elements within computer system1000, such as during start-up, may typically be stored in the ROM. Byway of example, and not limitation, system memory 1010 also illustratesapplication programs 1012, which may include client applications, Webbrowsers, mid-tier applications, relational database management systems(RDBMS), etc., program data 1014, and an operating system 1016. By wayof example, operating system 1016 may include various versions ofMicrosoft Windows®, Apple Macintosh®, and/or Linux operating systems, avariety of commercially-available UNIX® or UNIX-like operating systems(including without limitation the variety of GNU/Linux operatingsystems, the Google Chrome® OS, and the like) and/or mobile operatingsystems such as iOS, Windows® Phone, Android® OS, BlackBerry® 10 OS, andPalm® OS operating systems.

Storage subsystem 1018 may also provide a tangible computer-readablestorage medium for storing the basic programming and data constructsthat provide the functionality of some embodiments. Software (programs,code modules, instructions) that when executed by a processor providethe functionality described above may be stored in storage subsystem1018. These software modules or instructions may be executed byprocessing unit 1004. Storage subsystem 1018 may also provide arepository for storing data used in accordance with the presentdisclosure.

Storage subsystem 1000 may also include a computer-readable storagemedia reader 1020 that can further be connected to computer-readablestorage media 1022. Together and, optionally, in combination with systemmemory 1010, computer-readable storage media 1022 may comprehensivelyrepresent remote, local, fixed, and/or removable storage devices plusstorage media for temporarily and/or more permanently containing,storing, transmitting, and retrieving computer-readable information.

Computer-readable storage media 1022 containing code, or portions ofcode, can also include any appropriate media known or used in the art,including storage media and communication media, such as but not limitedto, volatile and non-volatile, removable and non-removable mediaimplemented in any method or technology for storage and/or transmissionof information. This can include tangible computer-readable storagemedia such as RAM, ROM, electronically erasable programmable ROM(EEPROM), flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digitalversatile disk (DVD), or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes,magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices,or other tangible computer readable media. This can also includenontangible computer-readable media, such as data signals, datatransmissions, or any other medium which can be used to transmit thedesired information and which can be accessed by computing system 1000.

By way of example, computer-readable storage media 1022 may include ahard disk drive that reads from or writes to non-removable, nonvolatilemagnetic media, a magnetic disk drive that reads from or writes to aremovable, nonvolatile magnetic disk, and an optical disk drive thatreads from or writes to a removable, nonvolatile optical disk such as aCD ROM, DVD, and Blu-Ray® disk, or other optical media.Computer-readable storage media 1022 may include, but is not limited to,Zip® drives, flash memory cards, universal serial bus (USB) flashdrives, secure digital (SD) cards, DVD disks, digital video tape, andthe like. Computer-readable storage media 1022 may also include,solid-state drives (SSD) based on non-volatile memory such asflash-memory based SSDs, enterprise flash drives, solid state ROM, andthe like, SSDs based on volatile memory such as solid state RAM, dynamicRAM, static RAM, DRAM-based SSDs, magnetoresistive RAM (MRAM) SSDs, andhybrid SSDs that use a combination of DRAM and flash memory based SSDs.The disk drives and their associated computer-readable media may providenon-volatile storage of computer-readable instructions, data structures,program modules, and other data for computer system 1000.

Communications subsystem 1024 provides an interface to other computersystems and networks. Communications subsystem 1024 serves as aninterface for receiving data from and transmitting data to other systemsfrom computer system 1000. For example, communications subsystem 1024may enable computer system 1000 to connect to one or more devices viathe Internet. In some embodiments communications subsystem 1024 caninclude radio frequency (RF) transceiver components for accessingwireless voice and/or data networks (e.g., using cellular telephonetechnology, advanced data network technology, such as 3G, 4G or EDGE(enhanced data rates for global evolution), WiFi (IEEE 802.11 familystandards, or other mobile communication technologies, or anycombination thereof), global positioning system (GPS) receivercomponents, and/or other components. In some embodiments communicationssubsystem 1024 can provide wired network connectivity (e.g., Ethernet)in addition to or instead of a wireless interface.

In some embodiments, communications subsystem 1024 may also receiveinput communication in the form of structured and/or unstructured datafeeds 1026, event streams 1028, event updates 1030, and the like onbehalf of one or more users who may use computer system 1000.

By way of example, communications subsystem 1024 may be configured toreceive data feeds 1026 in real-time from users of social networksand/or other communication services such as Twitter® feeds, Facebook®updates, web feeds such as Rich Site Summary (RSS) feeds, and/orreal-time updates from one or more third party information sources.

Additionally, communications subsystem 1024 may also be configured toreceive data in the form of continuous data streams, which may includeevent streams 1028 of real-time events and/or event updates 1030, thatmay be continuous or unbounded in nature with no explicit end. Examplesof applications that generate continuous data may include, for example,sensor data applications, financial tickers, network performancemeasuring tools (e.g. network monitoring and traffic managementapplications), clickstream analysis tools, automobile trafficmonitoring, and the like.

Communications subsystem 1024 may also be configured to output thestructured and/or unstructured data feeds 1026, event streams 1028,event updates 1030, and the like to one or more databases that may be incommunication with one or more streaming data source computers coupledto computer system 1000.

Computer system 1000 can be one of various types, including a handheldportable device (e.g., an iPhone® cellular phone, an iPad® computingtablet, a PDA), a wearable device (e.g., a Google Glass® head mounteddisplay), a PC, a workstation, a mainframe, a kiosk, a server rack, orany other data processing system.

Due to the ever-changing nature of computers and networks, thedescription of computer system 1000 depicted in the figure is intendedonly as a specific example. Many other configurations having more orfewer components than the system depicted in the figure are possible.For example, customized hardware might also be used and/or particularelements might be implemented in hardware, firmware, software (includingapplets), or a combination. Further, connection to other computingdevices, such as network input/output devices, may be employed. Based onthe disclosure and teachings provided herein, a person of ordinary skillin the art will appreciate other ways and/or methods to implement thevarious embodiments.

Although specific embodiments have been described, variousmodifications, alterations, alternative constructions, and equivalentsare also encompassed within the scope of the disclosure. Embodiments arenot restricted to operation within certain specific data processingenvironments, but are free to operate within a plurality of dataprocessing environments. Additionally, although embodiments have beendescribed using a particular series of transactions and steps, it shouldbe apparent to those skilled in the art that the scope of the presentdisclosure is not limited to the described series of transactions andsteps. Various features and aspects of the above-described embodimentsmay be used individually or jointly.

Further, while embodiments have been described using a particularcombination of hardware and software, it should be recognized that othercombinations of hardware and software are also within the scope of thepresent disclosure. Embodiments may be implemented only in hardware, oronly in software, or using combinations thereof. The various processesdescribed herein can be implemented on the same processor or differentprocessors in any combination. Accordingly, where components or modulesare described as being configured to perform certain operations, suchconfiguration can be accomplished, e.g., by designing electroniccircuits to perform the operation, by programming programmableelectronic circuits (such as microprocessors) to perform the operation,or any combination thereof. Processes can communicate using a variety oftechniques including but not limited to conventional techniques forinter process communication, and different pairs of processes may usedifferent techniques, or the same pair of processes may use differenttechniques at different times.

The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in anillustrative rather than a restrictive sense. It will, however, beevident that additions, subtractions, deletions, and other modificationsand changes may be made thereunto without departing from the broaderspirit and scope as set forth in the claims. Thus, although specificdisclosure embodiments have been described, these are not intended to belimiting. Various modifications and equivalents are within the scope ofthe following claims.

The use of the terms “a” and “an” and “the” and similar referents in thecontext of describing the disclosed embodiments (especially in thecontext of the following claims) are to be construed to cover both thesingular and the plural, unless otherwise indicated herein or clearlycontradicted by context. The terms “comprising,” “having,” “including,”and “containing” are to be construed as open-ended terms (i.e., meaning“including, but not limited to,”) unless otherwise noted. The term“connected” is to be construed as partly or wholly contained within,attached to, or joined together, even if there is something intervening.Recitation of ranges of values herein are merely intended to serve as ashorthand method of referring individually to each separate valuefalling within the range, unless otherwise indicated herein and eachseparate value is incorporated into the specification as if it wereindividually recited herein. All methods described herein can beperformed in any suitable order unless otherwise indicated herein orotherwise clearly contradicted by context. The use of any and allexamples, or exemplary language (e.g., “such as”) provided herein, isintended merely to better illuminate embodiments and does not pose alimitation on the scope of the disclosure unless otherwise claimed. Nolanguage in the specification should be construed as indicating anynon-claimed element as essential to the practice of the disclosure.

Disjunctive language such as the phrase “at least one of X, Y, or Z,”unless specifically stated otherwise, is intended to be understoodwithin the context as used in general to present that an item, term,etc., may be either X, Y, or Z, or any combination thereof (e.g., X, Y,and/or Z). Thus, such disjunctive language is not generally intended to,and should not, imply that certain embodiments require at least one ofX, at least one of Y, or at least one of Z to each be present.

Preferred embodiments of this disclosure are described herein, includingthe best mode known for carrying out the disclosure. Variations of thosepreferred embodiments may become apparent to those of ordinary skill inthe art upon reading the foregoing description. Those of ordinary skillshould be able to employ such variations as appropriate and thedisclosure may be practiced otherwise than as specifically describedherein. Accordingly, this disclosure includes all modifications andequivalents of the subject matter recited in the claims appended heretoas permitted by applicable law. Moreover, any combination of theabove-described elements in all possible variations thereof isencompassed by the disclosure unless otherwise indicated herein.

All references, including publications, patent applications, andpatents, cited herein are hereby incorporated by reference to the sameextent as if each reference were individually and specifically indicatedto be incorporated by reference and were set forth in its entiretyherein.

In the foregoing specification, aspects of the disclosure are describedwith reference to specific embodiments thereof, but those skilled in theart will recognize that the disclosure is not limited thereto. Variousfeatures and aspects of the above-described disclosure may be usedindividually or jointly. Further, embodiments can be utilized in anynumber of environments and applications beyond those described hereinwithout departing from the broader spirit and scope of thespecification. The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to beregarded as illustrative rather than restrictive.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method, comprising: receiving, by a computersystem, an update to a component to be deployed as part of a deployedapplication; determining, by the computer system, a first risk factorfor deploying a new version of the component comprising the update, thefirst risk factor identifying a technical impact associated withdeploying the new version of the component comprising the update;receiving, by the computer system, information identifying anon-technical impact associated with deploying the new version of thecomponent comprising the update; based at least in part on theinformation identifying the non-technical impact of the update,determining, by the computer system, a second risk factor for deployingthe new version of the component comprising the update; using, by thecomputer system, the first risk factor and the second risk factor todetermine a deployment risk factor prior to deploying the new version ofthe component comprising the update; based at least in part on thedeployment risk factor, generating, by the computer system, a deploymentplan for deploying the new version of the component comprising theupdate, the deployment plan identifying a deployment order for deployingthe new version of the component comprising the update to a plurality ofregions, wherein the deployment order identifies at least a first subsetof customers located in a first region of the plurality of regions fordeploying the new version of the component comprising the update; andbased at least in part on the deployment plan, deploying, by thecomputer system, the new version of the component comprising the updatein accordance with the deployment order in a computing environment ofthe computer system.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:identifying, by the computer system, an update type corresponding to theupdate, wherein the first risk factor identifies the technical impactassociated with deploying the new version of the component comprisingthe update type.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the update typecomprises at least one of a visual update, a functional update, aconfiguration update or an inter-component dependency update.
 4. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the information identifying the non-technicalimpact of the update comprises information that identifies the update asa customer facing update or a non-customer facing update, informationthat identifies a set of customers impacted by the update or informationthat identifies a network traffic load in a region of deployment of thenew version of the component comprising the update.
 5. The method ofclaim 1, wherein determining, by the computer system, the deploymentrisk factor for deploying the new version of the component comprisingthe update comprises: determining a first weight value to be assigned tothe first risk factor based at least in part on an update typeassociated with the update; determining a second weight value to beassigned to the second risk factor based at least in part on theinformation identifying the non-technical impact of the update; anddetermining a weight value to be assigned to the deployment risk factorbased at least in part on the first weight value and the second weightvalue, wherein the deployment risk factor represents a deployment impactof deploying the new version of the component comprising the update. 6.The method of claim 5, wherein the first weight value assigned to thefirst factor is different from the second weight value assigned to thesecond factor.
 7. The method of claim 1, further comprising: determininga first weight value to be assigned to the deployment risk factor basedat least in part on the first risk factor and the second risk factor;generating a first deployment plan for deploying the new version of thecomponent comprising the update based at least in part on the firstweight value; and deploying the new version of the component comprisingthe update in the computing environment based at least in part on thefirst deployment plan.
 8. The method of claim 7, comprising: determininga second weight value to be assigned to the deployment risk factor basedat least in part on the first risk factor and the second risk factor;generating a second deployment plan for deploying the new version of thecomponent comprising the update based at least in part on the secondweight value; and deploying the new version of the component comprisingthe update in the computing environment based at least in part on thesecond deployment plan.
 9. The method of claim 8, wherein the seconddeployment plan is different from the first deployment plan.
 10. Asystem, comprising: a processor; and a memory storing instructions that,when executed by the processor, configure the system to: receive anupdate to a component to be deployed as part of a deployed application;determine a first risk factor for deploying a new version of thecomponent comprising the update, the first risk factor identifying atechnical impact associated with deploying the new version of thecomponent comprising the update; receive information identifying anon-technical impact associated with deploying the new version of thecomponent comprising the update; based at least in part on theinformation identifying the non-technical impact of the update,determine a second risk factor for deploying the new version of thecomponent comprising the update; use the first risk factor and thesecond risk factor to determine a deployment risk factor prior todeploying the new version of the component comprising the update; basedat least in part on the deployment risk factor, generate a deploymentplan for deploying the new version of the component comprising theupdate, the deployment plan identifying a deployment order for deployingthe new version of the component comprising the update to a plurality ofregions, wherein the deployment order identifies at least a first subsetof customers located in a first region of the plurality of regions fordeploying the new version of the component comprising the update; andbased at least in part on the deployment plan, deploy the new version ofthe component comprising the update in accordance with the deploymentorder in a computing environment of the computer system.
 11. The systemof claim 10, further comprising instructions to identify an update typecorresponding to the update, wherein the first risk factor identifiesthe technical impact associated with deploying the new version of thecomponent comprising the update type.
 12. The system of claim 10,wherein the update type comprises at least one of a visual update, afunctional update, a configuration update or an inter-componentdependency update.
 13. The system of claim 10, wherein the informationidentifying the non-technical impact of the update comprises informationthat identifies the update as a customer facing update or a non-customerfacing update, information that identifies a set of customers impactedby the update or information that identifies a network traffic load in aregion of deployment of the new version of the component comprising theupdate.
 14. The system of claim 10, wherein the instructions todetermine the deployment risk factor for deploying the new version ofthe component comprising the update comprises instructions to: determinea first weight value to be assigned to the first risk factor based atleast in part on an update type associated with the update; determine asecond weight value to be assigned to the second risk factor based atleast in part on the information identifying the non-technical impact ofthe update; and determine a weight value to be assigned to thedeployment risk factor based at least in part on the first weight valueand the second weight value, wherein the deployment risk factorrepresents a deployment impact of deploying the new version of thecomponent comprising the update.
 15. The system of claim 14, wherein thefirst weight value assigned to the first factor is different from thesecond weight value assigned to the second factor.
 16. A non-transitorycomputer-readable medium having program code that is stored thereon, theprogram code executable by one or more processing devices for performingoperations comprising: receiving an update to a component to be deployedas part of a deployed application; determining a first risk factor fordeploying a new version of the component comprising the update, thefirst risk factor identifying a technical impact associated withdeploying the new version of the component comprising the update;receiving information identifying a non-technical impact associated withdeploying the new version of the component comprising the update; basedat least in part on the information identifying the non-technical impactof the update, determining a second risk factor for deploying the newversion of the component comprising the update; using the first riskfactor and the second risk factor to determine a deployment risk factorprior to deploying the new version of the component comprising theupdate; based at least in part on the deployment risk factor, generatinga deployment plan for deploying the new version of the componentcomprising the update, the deployment plan identifying a deploymentorder for deploying the new version of the component comprising theupdate to a plurality of regions, wherein the deployment orderidentifies at least a first subset of customers located in a firstregion of the plurality of regions for deploying the new version of thecomponent comprising the update; and based at least in part on thedeployment plan, deploying the new version of the component comprisingthe update in accordance with the deployment order in a computingenvironment of the computer system.
 17. The computer-readable medium ofclaim 16, further comprising: determining a first weight value to beassigned to the deployment risk factor based at least in part on thefirst risk factor and the second risk factor; generating a firstdeployment plan for deploying the new version of the componentcomprising the update based at least in part on the first weight value;and deploying the new version of the component comprising the update inthe computing environment based at least in part on the first deploymentplan.
 18. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, comprising:determining a second weight value to be assigned to the deployment friskactor based at least in part on the first risk factor and the secondrisk factor; generating a second deployment plan for deploying the newversion of the component comprising the update based at least in part onthe second weight value; and deploying the new version of the componentcomprising the update in the computing environment based at least inpart on the second deployment plan, wherein the second deployment planis different from the first deployment plan.